Curses, Sorcerers, and Girls Troubles
by scribble the words
Summary: Genma does something so terrible it changes Ranma's life forever.


Thoughts are indicated by * * I do not own characters created in Ranma 1/2 (insert standard disclaimer  
here.)  
  
Curses, Sorcerers, and Girls Troubles  
  
*I must escape from here, I can no longer deal with the torture I'm exposed to everyday.* the girl thought. Her midnight black hair tied back in a ponytail that reached past her bottom the kimono she wore tattered and very dirty. The wind picked up, * I will wait till tonight when everyone goes to sleep and the halls are empty, I will make my way out of this place and down the mountain. I will find him, I have to.* Yuri wanted to cry, she felt hope for the first time in a long time.  
  
When the moon hit its highest point in the sky Yuri listened to the crack at the bottom of her door. She heard nothing, *everyone must be sleeping by now, I have to do this now or be stuck here forever.*  
  
Yuri knew she had to be careful, she knew that there were a few traps and other obstacles she would have to get by before she would be close to getting out of here. Yuri had been preparing for this for a long time, the past 10 years in fact. Yuri lay down on her dirty bed roll; she lifted the edge and pulled out a small stick. Next Yuri started drawing out a crude map of the way she needed to go to avoid as many traps and spells as she could. *As long as I can get past the Phantom Dogs and the Fire Eye I should be free.*  
  
Yuri brushed her hand over the ground making her plans disappear. They were all in her head now and she remembered every last step.  
  
Yuri saw bon fire out the window glow, *it's time* she thought. She quietly stood up and opened her door a crack. She took a sniff of the air. As a child she wouldn't dare open the door at bedtime, not even a crack. The Sorcerers have created many things, most of them evil. One of the worst creations was what kept everyone in their rooms at night. *The Phantom Dogs.* she thought. As a very small child the Sorcerers told Yuri about the Phantom Dogs, and about the smell. Yuri shivered. *I have to do this.*  
  
*The hall doesn't smell like rotting meat so they can't be close. I have to use this as my chance.* Yuri looked both ways, the hall looked clear. She grabbed the small bundle she prepared earlier. She took one last look at her room. *I never want to see this place again.* she thought.  
  
Yuri made her way down the dark damp hall. It smelled musty and it was very cold. Yuri could see her breath and a chill rushed down her spine. Yuri's sense of smell went off like a siren. *Oh no! Rotting meat.* Yuri whipped around; a mist was seeping around the floor and clinging to everything. *Phantom Dog!* She broke into a run the corner she needed to go around was just ahead. Yuri reached the corner and came to a fast halt. Right in front of her was a Phantom Dog. The stench almost made her gag and she nearly fainted. Luckily the demon was facing away from her giving Yuri a few seconds to pull herself together and think of what to do. She looked around. *No where to go but.* Yuri looked up and jumped up to grab the old wooden beam. She pulled her entire body up and swung her leg over as not to fall back down towards the beast. A second dog came around the corner; they growled at each other and sniffed the air. Yuri knew they smelled her. She had to distract them. Yuri looked down, what she saw almost made her wretch. *Those dogs look more like rotting wolves* she thought. The dogs were rotting and in places you could see bone and in others there were maggots spilling out of open holes in its skin.  
  
Yuri opened the small bundle, took a piece of cloth, she wiped her sweat off on it and then put a piece of stale bread in the middle of it. *All I have to do is toss this down the end of that hallway and they will buy me enough time to get down the stairs.* Yuri tied the cloth around the bread. She threw it down the end of the hall and it hit the far wall with a thud. The dogs ran after it just as she thought.  
  
Yuri lowered herself and ran to the stairs she quickly made her way to the bottom of the long spiral staircase and peered around the corner towards the sky. Floating in the sky was a very large sphere which was blood red. Yuri wasn't sure as to how it worked but she knew that the Sorcerers could see everything going on where they focused it. As long as she didn't draw attention to herself she could slip by and to the hole in the wall she saw which gave her the idea to escape in the first place.  
  
Yuri stuck to the darkest of shadows hugging the wall the surrounded the entire area of the courtyard. She was surprised no one had noticed it before. Yuri pushed a few stones that were loose. *That should do it.* she thought. Yuri squeezed and contorted her body through the small hole. The jagged rocks biting at her skin and some leaving larger cuts. *I CAN DO THIS* Yuri thought.  
  
Yuri pulled herself with all her might and fell down the other side of the wall crashing to the ground with a thud. *I should have looked to see how far down this was before I just crawled through.* The girl stood and dusted herself off and looked behind her. Everything was peaceful, she had to keep going, and she had to get as far away from here as she could.  
  
Yuri ran for the cover of the woods, it would be much safer than standing there and getting caught. She kept running, all track of time was lost and before Yuri knew it the sun was rising and she was exhausted. She looked back over her shoulder expecting to see something following her but saw nothing. Yuri flopped down in the lush grass. She was free! The girl opened the bundle she had taken with her. *Looks like I'll have to make this one piece of bread last.* She took a large bite and slipped it back in the bundle. Yuri wished she could lay there and nap but by now someone at the compound would notice her missing. Yuri stood up and with every last bit of her being she started running again. *I'd rather die than to go back to that place.*  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"Ranma, you look terrible. Didn't you get any sleep last night?" asked Akane while sitting next to Ranma at the breakfast table.  
  
"Geez, thanks for your concern Akane. For your information I didn't get a good night sleep." Ranma snapped back.  
  
Ranma started shoveling the rice into his mouth. He didn't feel like talking about his dreams with the whole family around.  
  
Kasumi handed Akane the lunches she had made for her and Ranma and told them to hurry or they would be late for school. As the two headed out the front door Akane spoke up. "So are you going to tell me why you haven't been sleeping?"  
  
"I've been having nightmares for the past six nights." Ranma yawned and put his hands behind his head.  
  
"Well?" Akane asked.  
  
"Well what?" Ranma asked.  
  
"Well are you going to tell me what the dreams were about or what?" Akane started getting more annoyed with the pig tailed boy.  
  
"Just stuff about running through the forest, fighting with wild animals and being attacked by some men, not having any food to eat and the whole time I was a girl." Ranma got chills just thinking about it.  
  
"It doesn't sound THAT bad." Akane looked over to Ranma. *Maybe it was that bad.*  
  
The couple neared the school. *Another long day.* Ranma thought. "Hey what's with the crowd?" Ranma said as the couple ran towards it.  
  
They pushed their way through the crowd. There collapsed on the ground was a girl.  
  
"I, I know her." Ranma muttered.  
  
Akane stared at the girl. *She, she looks just like Ranma in his girl form only with black hair.*  
  
The girl lying on the ground opened her eyes. "Is it really you?" she said to Ranma as she passed out again. 


End file.
